Little Women

This novel, issued in two parts in 1868 and 1869, is the story of the March household in Concord-like New England while Mr March is away at the Civil War. The sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy keep house with their mother, quarrel, stage theatricals, and each pursue a different temperament: Jo's writing and boyish independence, Meg's wish for pretty things, Amy's artistic vanity, Beth's quiet goodness. Laurie next door offers friendship and later a question of marriage. Poverty, illness, and the moral lessons of a year structure the plot. It is a family story about becoming women, not a battlefield narrative.

Quarter bound in pale blue buckram, off-white covers blocked with multiple small colour pictures. Dark blue slipcase.